In modern commercial aircraft, hand baggage is usually stowed away underneath the passenger seats if it is too heavy to be loaded into the overhead stowage bins or hatracks. In this arrangement the items of baggage can be stowed underneath a passenger's own seat or underneath the closest seat in front. The closest seat in front is accessible from the rear, and at its front end is delimited by a baggage retention bar. If this space does not contain any baggage, then it provides additional foot space for the passenger.
The entire under-seat volume that can be used for baggage is defined by the width of the seat, the depth of the seat multiplied by the available height under the seat. In today's commercial aircraft, passenger seats comprise a skeleton-type support structure so that each passenger seat has two seat legs or skeleton-type support devices.
The overall volume is thus partly defined by the seat bases, which form sub-volumes in each seat row. However, most of the time these sub-volumes under the passenger seat are not identical in size. In addition, several built-in items, for example life vests, in-flight entertainment devices or seat-electronic boxes have to be installed underneath the seat. This additionally reduces the space underneath the individual seats and leaves it very unevenly distributed.
DE 195 34 024 A1 discloses a seat group for an aircraft. The seat group comprises a load-bearing structure that supports several seats, each comprising a seat part and a backrest. By way of at least one common guide rail the seats are transversely slidable, wherein devices for transverse sliding can be provided at least on the aisle-side seats.
DE 102 14 104 describes a vehicle seat, in particular a passenger seat. The vehicle seat comprises a seat part and a backrest which are arranged on a seat frame. In this arrangement the seat part can be folded on a horizontal axis from a first, almost vertical, position to a second, almost horizontal, position.
When the vehicle seats are swung up, during loading and unloading the overhead stowage bins, passengers can step between the seats so that the aisle of the aircraft remains free for passengers to move in it. The aisle is thus not blocked during loading of the overhead stowage bins so that boarding and deplaning of the aircraft's passengers takes place more quickly. However, the skeleton-type design of the transverse structure of the seat row, i.e. the skeleton-type design with the seat legs, narrows the possible stowage space under the seats.